LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Western politicians are currently scrambling for air tickets to Kiev . Britain 's Foreign Secretary David Miliband rushed to Ukraine soon after Russia announced its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia . U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will follow .

Ukraine 's President Viktor Yuschenko has made it clear that he would welcome closer ties with the West .

They want to shore up the Western-leaning President Viktor Yuschenko , amid fears that his country could become the next frontline in the power struggle between Russia and the West . It is in part a deliberate signal to an emboldened Moscow not to overreach . But EU nations will only be taking their support so far , for geographical , practical and political reasons .

Conflict between Russia and Georgia , a tiny country of around 5 million citizens , was one thing . Conflict with the 47 million strong Ukraine would be a different matter , with much wider ramifications . What do you think of Russia 's relationship with the West ?

While Georgia 's President Mikhail Saakashvili , at least for the moment , seems to have the bulk of the Georgian population behind him , Ukraine is much more divided about relations with Moscow . There is a huge energy dependency . Around 17 percent of Ukraine citizens , according to the census , are ethnic Russians . Even the country 's political leadership is divided .

Although they were allies in Ukraine 's 2004 Orange Revolution and both would like to see Ukraine in the EU , Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has distanced herself from Yuschenko 's eagerness to enter the embrace of NATO . She has also criticized his presidential decree restricting the movements of Russia 's Ukraine-based Black Sea fleet , based in Ukraine 's Crimean peninsula , where there is a heavy concentration of ethnic Russians .

Yuschenko flew to Tblisi to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Saakashvili over the conflict in Georgia , while Tymoshenko focused on calls for a cessation of hostilities .

Miliband used his visit to Kiev to insist that Russia 's re-drawing of the map in the Caucusus was a moment of truth for Europe , marking the end of a post-Cold War period of geopolitical calm . But significantly Miliband also urged Ukraine to avoid giving Russia a pretext to intervene in the Crimea , where Kiev accuses Russia of trying to stir up trouble -- just as Saakashvili had accused Moscow of doing in South Ossetia before launching his military assault .

The Ukranian port of Sebastopol is leased to the Russian Black Sea fleet until 2017 and Yuschenko has urged that Russia should be asked for a higher rent and be subject to more restrictions . Miliband may be making the toughest warning noises he dares to Russia , but he also urged that `` the Ukrainian government should ensure that the letter of the agreements are stuck to until 2017 . ''

In recent years Ukraine has sought an uneasy balance between courting the West and not too overtly angering Moscow . But lately Yuschenko has grown bolder , offering to co-operate in the U.S. missile defense shield in Europe , despite the chilling threats from Moscow to Poland over its planned participation . NATO and EU leaders would not want him to get much bolder than that .

While a majority of Ukrainians , according to opinion polls , would like to see their country in the EU , they are sharply divided about joining NATO . Only last April EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso complained about the country 's lack of political stability -LRB- a key qualification for membership -RRB- . Disputes between president and prime minister over relations with Russia , he suggested , were holding up progress .

There is a regular EU/Ukraine meeting next month and Kiev will be looking for strong signals that it will meet a favorable response over its membership aims . Miliband declared in Kiev : `` My visit is designed to send a simple message : we have not forgotten our commitments to you . ''

Ukraine allies like Poland will be pushing for those words to be reinforced with action , but EU commitments tend to come with rather vague timetables , and to become entangled in wider issues .

Poland 's prospects of speeding its membership prospects will depend on who wins the internal EU argument between those who , with an eye to their energy supplies , want to see the conflict with Russia cool down and those who want to send a strong signal to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev , in that order , that they have already gone too far .

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Western leaders heading for Ukraine to show support for pro-Western government

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West concerned at what it sees as Russia `` re-drawing of the map in the Caucusus ''

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UK foreign minister tells Ukraine not to give Russia a pretext to intervene in its affairs

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Ukraine , like Poland , looks toward EU for possible membership